I agree. Firsthand experience with someone skilled looking over your shoulder is the best and safest way to start learning.
If you are doing a lot of pattern cutting, then a plasma cutter may be good.
I love the oxy-acetylene kit I bought recently even though I have only used it for welding. You can use it to heat, weld, cut, and braze dissimilar materials together. Be careful though, they are limited to the thickness that you can use them on by the capacity of the gas cylinders that you have. (Acetylene can be dangerous at pressure over 15 PSI past the regulator. Acetylene can not be used at a flowrate of more than 1/7 the capacity of the cylinder you are using so large nozzles on small tanks will not work - be sure to understand and follow the instruction booklet)
Where was I..
MIG is handy for the ease of being able to tack something fast (possible to do with O/A torch but not nearly as fast) Main lesson I learned when I used a MIG was to go slow.
TIG is handy for exotic metals like Al, Ti. Takes more skill than MIG to use.
I didn't have too much time with the TIG so I never got good at it but I think I learned to use the O/A torch for welding faster just because I did a lot of research and read many sources on technique - which my technique is still not the best but I can get nice welds for the most part.
At the moment, I think technique is everything. It pays to know what to look for in wrong technique and what to change to make it better.
Anyhoo.. enough rambling..